Many attacks, few suggestions at Gov. debate

Houston Chronicle

Published
12:00 am CST, Saturday, January 30, 2010

The Republican candidates for governor clashed in what is likely their final debate Friday, attacking one another's records but offering little vision as to what they would do as governor over the next four years.

Gov. Rick Perry spent most of the evening defending his promotion of the Trans-Texas Corridor, toll roads and the spending of $380 million to attract businesses to move to Texas. Perry said he would not have done anything differently during his nine years in office.

U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison again tried to square her “94 percent pro-life” voting record with her support for the Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion. She also took the brunt of anti-Washington rhetoric.

Activist Debra Medina had to distance herself from statements she made last year that if efforts to promote states' rights fail, the nation may need a “bloody war” of secession. Medina said she is against secession. She said she wants the state to be able to nullify federal laws, saying Texas usually does not get to keep all the federal gas tax money raised to build highways.

But very few concrete ideas were offered by the candidates on how to resolve a possible $17 billion shortfall in the state's budget over the next two years or how to pay for an expected $300 billion in highway construction needed over the next 20 years. Hutchison said Texas needs to halt the high rate of high school dropouts, though she offered no specific solutions.

Perry and Hutchison portrayed themselves as experienced political leaders who can lead the state through the problems ahead.

“We've got some big challenges in front of us. … It's going to take some experienced leadership, some experienced executive leadership to take this state forward,” Perry said.

Hutchison said cronyism between Perry and lobbyists is what prompted him to propose building the Trans-Texas Corridor and to mandate vaccinating sixth-grade girls against the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus, or HPV.

“We've got to stop it, and it will only be done with a new governor,” Hutchison said.

Medina, who is in distant third in the race, chided both. She said Perry is misleading Texans about the state economy while Hutchison's policies in the Senate have promoted globalization.

“Together, they're a team of economic tricksters intent on destroying our freedoms and selling Texas to the highest bidder. We deserve better,” Medina said.

She offered one of the more direct proposals of the evening: replace the property tax with increased sales taxes — even if that means the sales tax rate would have to go to 14 percent.

The enterprise fund

Some of the sharpest exchanges occurred over the governor's Texas Enterprise Fund, which has used $380 million in incentives to lure companies to Texas.

The governor's office recently renegotiated 11 contracts to give companies receiving state funds greater leeway on job creation. And Texans for Public Justice reported this week that many companies were having trouble meeting job goals, including one company that could not get enough visas to move workers from foreign countries into the state.

Perry said the fund has lured $16.4 billion in capital to the state and is creating 54,600 jobs. He said it has been an important part of creating a positive business environment that helped Texas stave off the worst of the national recession.

Hutchison described the fund as a waste of taxpayer money, saying it would have been better spent on education. Hutchison said the money was given to companies that likely would have moved to Texas without it.

Medina described it as a “corporate slush fund” given to “his friends' businesses” and filled with money taken from taxpayers “that's not his to give.”

Under questions from a panel, Perry said if he is re-elected he will serve his full term of office if the “good Lord” lets him live that long.

Some have speculated that Perry might run for president or vice president if re-elected.

Hutchison restated her promise to quit the Senate no matter whether she wins or loses the governor's race. Hutchison said she is not worried that the Democrats could win her seat and regain the vote they may need to pass national health care finance reform.

“There is not a scintilla of a chance that a Democrat from Texas will be elected to the United States Senate from Texas,” Hutchison said.

No other Republican debates are scheduled. A Democratic primary debate between former Houston Mayor Bill White and businessman Farouk Shami is scheduled for Feb. 8.